Caspian Ocean | Article about Caspian Ocean by The Free Dictionary Caspian Ocean | Article about Caspian Ocean by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Wikipedia . Caspian Sea (kăs`pēən), Lat. Mare Caspium or Mare Hyrcanium, salt lake, c.144,000 sq mi (373,000 sq km), between Europe and Asia; the largest lake in the world. It is bordered on the northeast by Kazakhstan, on the southeast by Turkmenistan, on the south by Iran, on the southwest by Azerbaijan, and on the northwest by Russia. The Caspian's surface lies 92 ft (28 m) below sea level. It reaches its maximum depth, c.3,200 ft (980 m), in the south; the shallow northern half averages only about 17 ft (5 m). The Caucasus Mts. rise from the southwestern shore, and the Elburz Mts. parallel the southern coast.

The Caspian receives the Volga (which supplies more than 75% of its inflow), Ural, Emba, Kura, and Terek rivers, but has no outlet. The rate of evaporation is particularly high in the eastern inlet called Garabogazkol Garabogazkol or Kara-Bogaz-Gol , shallow bay,, in Turkmenistan. An arm of the Caspian Sea, it acts as a natural evaporation basin, drawing off the water of the Caspian and depositing salts along its shores. ..... Click the link for more information. , which is exploited for salt. Variations in evaporation account for great changes in the size of the sea during the course of history. The damming and diversion of the Volga's water for industrial and residential use have been the leading reasons for the lowering of the Caspian's water level, a problem of serious proportions. The chief ports on the Caspian are Bakı a major oil center, and Astrakhan Astrakhan , city (1990 pop. 521,000), capital of Astrakhan region, SE European Russia.

A Caspian Sea port on the Volga River's southern delta, it is a center for river transport thanks to a canal built for barge traffic. ..... Click the link for more information. , at the mouth of the Volga. Underlying the Caspian are some of the world's largest oil reserves, and the five surrounding countries, all with major stakes in oil-field development, have disputed zones of control, although Russia has signed territorial agreements with Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The Caspian also has important fisheries. The northern part of the sea is the chief source of beluga caviar, but the destruction of spawning areas and illegal fishing has greatly reduced the number of sturgeon, and fishing quotas have been imposed. In 2003 a framework treaty for the protection of the sea's environment was signed by four of the surrounding nations; Turkmenistan did not sign. Caspian Sea (from the Greek Kaspion pelagos, the Latin Caspium Mare), the world’s largest inland body of water, located on the territory of the USSR (RSFSR, Kazakh SSR, Turkmen SSR, and Azerbaijan SSR) and Iran.

The Caspian is frequently considered the largest lake in the world; this is inaccurate, however, since by its size, the nature of its processes, and its developmental history the Caspian is a sea. It received its name from the ancient Caspi tribes who inhabited the eastern part of the Caucasus. Among its other historical names are the Hyrcanian, Khvalyn (Khvaliss), and Khazar seas—also derived from the names of ancient peoples who inhabited its shores. Physical geographic survey. GENERAL INFORMATION. The Caspian Sea extends almost 1, 200 km from north to south, and it has an average width of 320 km and a shoreline of about 7, 000 km (including more than 6, 000 km within the ussr). Its area is about 371,000 sq km, and its level is 28.5 m below the level of the world ocean (1969). The maximum depth is 1, 025 m.

in 1929, prior to the considerable drop in the level of the Caspian Sea, its area was 422, 000 sq km. The largest gulfs are Kizliar and Komsomolets in the north, Mangyshlak, Kenderli, Kazakh, Kara-Bogaz-Gol, and Krasnovodsk in the east, and Agrakhan and Baku in the west. In the south there are shallow lagoons. The Caspian has up to 50 islands, predominantly small ones (with a total area of about 350 sq km). The most important are Kulaly, Tiulenii, Chechen’, Artem, Zhiloi, and Ogurchinskii. The most important rivers—the Volga, Emba, Ural, and Terek—flow into the northern part of the sea. Their combined annual flow accounts for about 88 percent of all river water entering the Caspian. Large rivers—the Sulak, Samur, and Kura —and a number of smaller ones flow into the sea on the western shore (contributing 7 percent of the inflow).

The remaining 5 percent of the inflow comes from the rivers of the Iranian shore (Gorgan, Aras, and Safid). On the eastern shore, including the coast of the Kara-Bogaz-Gol, there is not a single permanent stream. SHORELINE. The shores of the northern Caspian are low and gently sloping and are characterized by the extensive development of low coastal areas that form as a result of sediments brought in by wind-driven waves. Delta shores have also developed here (the deltas of the Volga, Ural, and Terek). as a whole, the shores of the northern Caspian are growing intensively as a result of the drop in the level of the sea, the rapid growth of the deltas, and the abundant influx of terrigenous material. The western shores of the Caspian are also largely shores of accumulation (with numerous bars and spits), while some areas on the coasts of Dagestan and the Apsheron Peninsula are abrasion shores. The eastern coast consists predominantly of abrasion shores resulting from the cutting away of the limestone of the adjacent semidesert and desert plateaus by the sea.

there are also accumulation forms such as the Kara-Bogaz Spit, which separates the largest gulf on the Caspian, Kara-Bogaz-Gol, from the sea, as well as the Krasnovodsk and Kenderli spits. South of the Krasnovodsk Peninsula accumulation shores prevail. RELIEF. in terms of the character of the relief and the hydro-logical features, the caspian sea is usually divided into the north caspian, middle caspian, and south caspian. the north caspian (about 80, 000 sq km in area) is the shallowest part of the sea, with depths of 4–8 m. The bottom is formed by a slightly undulating accumulation plain and a series of shoals and accumulation islands, which are known as the Mangyshlak bank. This bank separates the north Caspian from the Middle Caspian.

the middle Caspian (about 138, 000 sq km in area) is divided into the derbent basin (maximum depth, 788 m), the shelf, and the continental slope, which is complicated by underwater landslips and canyons. on the gentle northern slope remains of ancient river valleys have been discovered. in the south the basin of the middle caspian is separated from the basin of the south caspian by the apsheron bank, on which lie a number of shoals and islands. the south caspian basin (maximum depth, 1, 025 m), which covers about one-third of the area of the sea, has a narrow shelf along the western and southern (iranian) shores; along the eastern shore the shelf is considerably wider. the bottom of the basin forms a flat abyssal plain. in the northern part of the basin there are several underwater ranges with a northwestern and southeastern strike. GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE AND MINERALS. The northern section of the Caspian Sea forms the edge of the Caspian tectonic depression, which is a part of the Eastern European Platform.

The Mangyshlak Bank is structurally linked to the underwater Karpinskii swell (which was uplifted during the hercynian orogeny) on the western shore and the Mangyshlak mountains on the eastern. The bottom of the Middle Caspian has a heterogeneous structure. Its eastern part is a submerged section of the Epihercynian Turan Platform. The Derbent Basin and the western parts of the shelf and the continental slope are the foredeep of the greater caucasus geosyncline. The Apsheron Bank corresponds to one of the branches of recent structures that formed on the subsided folded structures of the Greater Caucasus; it connects the folded structures of the Greater Caucasus with the folded structures of the Kopetdag. The South Caspian is characterized by a suboceanic-type crustal structure, and the granite layer is absent here. Beneath the sedimentary layer, which is up to 25 km thick (this indicates, obviously, the great age of the South Caspian basin), lies a basalt layer up to 15 km thick.

Until the upper Miocene, the Caspian Sea basin was closely connected with the Black Sea in its geological history. After the upper Miocene folding, this link was broken, and the Caspian became a landlocked body of water. The connection with the ocean was reestablished during the upper Pliocene, in the Ak-chagyl age. During Anthropogenic times, owing to the alternation of glacial and postglacial ages on the East European Plain, the Caspian Sea repeatedly underwent transgressions (Baku, Khazar, and Khvalyn) and regressions. Traces of the transgressions and regressions have survived in the form of terrraces on the seashore as well as in the stratigraphy of the ancient Caspian deposits. On the shelf there are terrigenous shell sands, coquina, and oolitic sands. The deepwater sections of the floor are covered by aleurite and silt sediments with a high content of calcium carbonate. In certain sections of the floor, bedrock of Neocene age has been exposed. The floor of the Caspian Sea has rich deposits of oil and gas.

The Apsheron Bank is oil- and gas-bearing, as are the Dagestan and Turkmen regions of the sea. The areas of the sea floor adjacent to Mangyshlak and the Mangyshlak Bank are promising for oil and gas. The gulf of Kara-Bogaz-Gol contains the richest deposits of chemical raw materials (in particular, mirabilite). CLIMATE. The chief baric centers that determine atmospheric circulation in the Caspian Sea region are the spur of the Asiatic high-pressure center in the winter and the spurs of the azores high-pressure and the South Asian low-pressure centers in the summer. The characteristic climatic features are considerable continentality, predominance of anti-cyclonic weather conditions, dry winds, severe frosty winters (particularly in the northern part), sharp temperature fluctuations during the year, and little precipitation (excluding the southwestern part of the sea). Cyclonic activity develops on the atmospheric fronts and is also an important element in the climate and weather on the Caspian. in the northern and middle parts of the Caspian Sea, easterly winds prevail from October through April, and northwesterly winds prevail from May through September.

in the southern part of the sea, the monsoon character of the winds is most sharply expressed. The strongest winds are found near the Apsheron Peninsula (the Baku northerly, which blows primarily in the autumn), the eastern shore of the middle section, and the northwestern part of the northern section. Here there are frequent storms during which the wind velocity reaches more than 24 m per sec. The mean air temperature over many years during the warm months (July and August) over the entire sea is 24°-26°C, with an absolute maximum (up to 44°C) on the eastern coast. During the winter months temperatures range from — 10°C in the north to 12°C in the south. Over the sea average annual precipitation is 200 mm, with up to 400 mm on the western coast, 90-100 mm on the arid eastern coast, and up to 1, 700 mm on the subtropical southwestern coast.

Evaporation from the greater part of the sea surface is very high, reaching 1,000 mm a year; in the eastern part of the South Caspian and near the Apsheron Peninsula it is up to 1, 400 mm a year. HYDROLOGICAL REGIME. A cyclonic circulation of water prevails in the Caspian Sea, and it is caused chiefly by the inflow of rivers and the prevailing winds. Masses of water move from north to south along the western coast toward the Apsheron Peninsula, where the current splits. One branch continues along the western coast; the other branch crosses the Caspian near the Apsheron Bank, and off the eastern coast it joins the waters moving north along that coast from the South Caspian. The circulation in the South Caspian is also cyclonic but is less clearly expressed, and between Baku and the mouth of the Kura River it is complicated by a local anticyclonic circulation. In the North Caspian unstable wind-driven currents of different directions prevail.

Their speed is usually 10–15 cm per sec, and during strong winds that coincide with the direction of the currents, the speed can reach 30–40 and even 100 cm per sec. Owing to the frequent occurrence of moderate and strong winds, there is a large number of days with heavy seas. The maximum observed wave height is 11 m near the Apsheron Bank. During the summer, average water temperature on the surface is 24°-26°C; it is up to 29°C in the south and up to 32°C in Krasnovodsk Gulf. Along the eastern shores the temperature sometimes drops to 10°-12°C in July and August. This phenomenon is due to the driving influence of the winds and the upwelling of deep water. In winter significant temperature contrasts are observed. In the north there are negative temperatures (down to —0.5°C), in the Middle Caspian the temperature is 3°-7°C, and in the South Caspian it is 8°-10°C. The northern part of the sea usually freezes for two or three months, with ice thickness reaching 2 m.

In the Middle Caspian individual shallow bays freeze during severe winters. The ice is frequently broken up by the wind and then drifts from the North Caspian south along the western shore. In some years floating ice reaches the Apsheron Peninsula region and is capable of causing significant damage to hydraulic engineering structures in the sea. The average salinity of the water is 12.7–12.8 %o (parts per thousand), with a maximum (excluding Kara-Bogaz-Gol) of up to 13.2 along the eastern shores and a minimum of 1–2 %o in the northwest. Salinity fluctuations over the area of the sea, on the vertical, and in time are insignificant, and only in the north are they more noticeable due to fluctuations in the Volga’s drainage. The composition of the salts differs from ordinary sea salt by a greater content of sulfates, calcium carbonate, and magnesium carbonate and by a lower chloride content. This is caused by the influence of the inflow of rivers.

A vertical mixing of the water in the winter takes place throughout the entire vertical section in the North Caspian and a layer of 200–300 m in the deepwater regions; in the summer and autumn the mixing is limited to an upper layer of 15–30 m. During these seasons an intensive thermocline is formed (several degrees per meter) on the lower edge of the upper well-warmed and mixed layer (15–30 m), and this obstructs the spread of heat into the deep layers of the sea. FLUCTUATIONS IN LEVEL. Brief nonperiodic fluctuations in the level of the Caspian Sea are caused by the winds, and in the north the winds can cause a temporary rise in the level by 2.5–2 m or a drop of up to 2 m. Seiches are observed with a period of from 10 minutes to 12 hours and an amplitude of up to 0.7 M. Small seasonal fluctuations in the level also occur (about 30 cm). Over the years and centuries, the level of the Caspian Sea has undergone significant fluctuations which have been caused primarily by changes in the sea’s water balance.

According to geological, archaeological, historical, and geomorphological data, it has been established that the Caspian Sea had a high level (up to 22 m below sea level) about 4, 000 to 6, 000 years ago, at the start of the Common Era, and at the beginning of the 19th century (the Neocaspian transgression). It is also known that there was a low level from the seventh through the 11th centuries a.d. (possibly 2–4 m below the present one). The last major drop in the level occurred between 1929 (when the level was at about —26 m) and 1956–57. At present the level fluctuates around the —28.5 m level by not more than several centimeters. The reasons for the latest drop in the level, aside from climatic changes that caused a reduction in the river inflow to the Caspian Sea and an increase in evaporation from its surface, were the hydraulic engineering construction on the Volga (the creation of large man-made reservoirs) and the use of river water for irrigating arid lands and for industrial needs.

Another negative factor in the water balance is the flow of Caspian Sea water into Kara-Bogaz-Gol, which is 4 m lower than the Caspian. As a whole, the components of the water balance in 1970 were as follows. The input consisted of 66.8 cu km of precipitation, 266.4 cu km of river inflow, and 5 cu km of subterranean water. The consumption consisted of 357.3 cu km in evaporation, 4 cu km of flow into Kara-Bogaz-Gol, and 1 cu km of seawater used by man. Since the consumption exceeds the input, the water level has dropped by an average of 7 cm a year (over the 1966–67 period). A number of measures have been worked out for preventing a further drop in the sea level. (The level could decline another 2 m by the year 2000.) There are plans to divert the water of northern rivers such as the Vychegda and Pechora into the Volga Basin, which would give the Volga and the Caspian Sea about 32 cu km of water a year more.

A plan has also been worked out (1972) for regulating the flow of Caspian waters into Kara-Bogaz-Gol. FLORA AND FAUNA. The Caspian Sea is poor in terms of the species composition of the flora and fauna, but the biomass is large. The Caspian is inhabited by more than 500 plant and 854 fish and animal species, which are diverse in their origin. Among the plants in the Caspian the blue-green algae and diatoms (for example, Rhizosolenia) predominate. Among the recent arrivals are many red and brown algae. Zostera and Ruppia are the most widely distributed of the flowering marine plants. The algae Charophyta have the greatest biomass (up to 30 kg per sq m of bottom). Most of the fauna originated in Neocene times, and it has undergone great changes owing to the frequent and considerable fluctuations in salinity.

This group includes sturgeons, herring, sprats, gobies, and “pugolovka” (Benthophilus) of the fish, zebra mussels and cockles of the mollusks, and gammarids, poly-chaetes, sponges, and one species of jellyfish from the other invertebrates. The Caspian is also inhabited by 15 species that migrated from the arctic and Mediterranean basins. An important group is made up of freshwater organisms (the pike perch of the fish). As a whole, a high degree of endemism is typical. Some organisms have settled in the Caspian quite recently either as a result of being carried in on the bottoms of seagoing vessels (chiefly various growths, for example, mytilaster, the Rhizosolenia algae, and barnacles and crabs) or of deliberate acclimatization by man (for example, the gray mullet of the fish and Nereis and Syndesmya of the invertebrates). History of exploration.

Documentary evidence concerning the acquaintance of Russians with the Caspian Sea and their voyages across it dates to the ninth and tenth centuries (ancient Arabic, Armenian, and Iranian manuscripts). Regular exploration of the Caspian Sea was begun by Peter I, upon whose initiative an expedition under the leadership of A. Bekovich-Cherkasskii was organized in 1714–15. In particular, Bekovich-Cherkasskii studied the eastern coast of the Caspian. In the 1720’s, I. F. Soimo-nov began to conduct hydrographic research in the Caspian, and, during the second half of the 18th century, this research was continued by I. V. Tokmachev and M. I. Voinovich. At the beginning of the 19th century further research was carried out by Kolodkin, who was the first to make an instrumental compass survey of the shores. In the middle of the 19th century a detailed hydrographic instrumental survey of the Caspian Sea was made under the leadership of N. A. Ivashintsev.

The maps made as a result of these surveys served as the basis for the subsequent publications of maritime charts for the Caspian up to the 1930’s. In the 19th century major contributions to studying the natural conditions of the Caspian Sea were made by the scientists P. S. Pallas, S. G. Gmelin, G. S. Karelin, K. M. Baer, G. V. Abich, O. A. Grim, N. I. Andrusov, and I. B. Shpindler. In 1897 the Astrakhan Scientific Research Station (presently the Institute of Caspian Fisheries) was founded. In 1866, 1904, 1912–13, and 1914–15 expeditionary research on the hydrology and hydrobiology of the Caspian was carried out under the leadership of N. M. Knipovich. This work was continued after 1917 by the Caspian Expedition of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, which was also led by Knipovich.

In the first decade after the October Revolution, the research of the Soviet geologists I. M. Gubkin, D. V. Golubiatnikov, V. D. Golubiatnikov, P. A. Pravoslavlev, V. P. Baturin, and S. A. Kovalevskii played an important role in the study of the geological structure of and presence of oil on the Apsheron Peninsula as well as the geological history of the Caspian Sea. At this time, B. A. Appolov, V. V. Valedinskii, K. P. Vos-kresenskii, and L. S. Berg made significant contributions to studying the water balance of and the fluctuations in the level oi* the Caspian. After the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45 comprehensive systematic research was started on the Caspian Sea. It aimed at studying the hydrometeorological regime, biological conditions, and the geological structure of the sea.

Among the institutions taking part in this research are Moscow State University, the Institute of Geography of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR, the State Institute of Oceanography, the observatories of the Hydrometeorological Service, the Institute for Geology and Exploitation of Combustible Minerals (IGIRGI) of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Institute of Geophysics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the Aeromethods Laboratory and the All-Union Geophysics Scientific Research Institute of the Ministry of Geology of the USSR, the Caspian Institute for Sturgeon Fisheries, and other scientific institutions of the republic academies of sciences and ministries. Economic and geographic survey. The Caspian Sea has long been famous as a region where valuable types of fish can be caught—in particular sturgeons (82 percent of the world catch) and herring, as well as freshwater fish (bream, pike perch, Caspian roach, and wild carp).

As a result of the drop in the sea level (which has led to the disappearance of valuable spawning grounds) and the controlling of the flow of the Volga, Kura, and Araks rivers (which has worsened conditions for the breeding of diadromous and semidiadromous fish), the quantity and the catch primarily of the valuable types of fish (herring and sturgeons) have sharply declined. In 1936 the gross catch was about 500, 000 tons, and in 1956 it was 461,000 tons (21, 500 and 15, 000 tons of sturgeons, 197, 000 and 18, 000 for the roach, and 55, 000 and 8, 400 for the pike perch, respectively). The comparatively slight decline in the gross catch can be explained by a sharp increase in the catch of less valuable fish, mainly sprats. Owing to the decline in the number of sturgeons, work is being done to breed and replenish the valuable types of fish.

In the North Caspian, seals are also hunted. In 1924 oil began to be produced in Il’ich Bay (near Baku) for the first time, but output increased particularly after the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. Petroleum is produced offshore from derricks (Neftianye Kamni) and man-made islands. The main regions are Apsheron and Sangachaly Raion on the western coast and Cheleken on the eastern. The offshore oil fields produce more than 50 percent of the total oil produced in the Azerbaijan SSR. The mining of sodium sulfate, mirabilite, and epsomite in the Kara-Bogaz-Gol region is also of great economic significance. Owing to the ever increasing need for fresh water, units for desalinizing seawater have appeared on the Caspian Sea. The largest of them (for obtaining fresh water for industry and everyday needs in nearby desert and semidesert regions) are being built (1972) in the towns of Shevchenko and Krasnovodsk. The Caspian Sea is of great importance for transportation, both domestically and in commerce with foreign countries.

The main cargoes transported over the Caspian are oil, lumber, grain, cotton, rice, and sulfate. The most important ports are Astrakhan, Baku, Makhachkala, Krasnovodsk, and Shevchenko. They are also connected by regular passenger runs. Sea-rail ferries operate between Baku and Krasnovodsk. A ferry service is also planned (1972) between Makhachkala and Shevchenko. In Iran the main ports are Bandar-e Pahlavi and Bandar-e Shah. REFERENCES Volga-Don Shipping Canal Caspian Guard Volga-Don Shipping Canal Volga-Don Ship Canal [Volgo-Donskoy Imeni Vladimira Illicha Lenina, or Volgo-Donskoy Sudokhodny Kanal] Volga-Don canal is a part of the United Deep-Water System of Waterways. This canal connects the Volga and the Don and reduced twofold distances between ports of northern and southern seas of the European part of Russia in comparison with the earlier existing way round Europe.

The Volga-Don Canal crowned the joining of the five seas: the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the White Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea; it connected river ways and crossed the arid steppes. The Volga-Don Canal is important to the area because it allows waterborne shipping from the Volga River to the Don River, through the Sea of Azov, and into the Black Sea. The main European waterway is the Volga-Don system, which connects the major river ports of Nizhniy Novgorod, Kazan', Samara, Saratov, Volgograd, Astrakhan', and Rostov with the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea and leads northward via canals to link with the Baltic Sea at St. Petersburg. The system links the Don and Volga rivers by the 60-kilometer Volga-Don Canal. Expansion of commerce on inland waterways has been hindered by shallow water and weather conditions. The Volga-Don Canal is closed for several months in winter. Peter the Great attached much importance to effecting a junction of the Black and the Caspian Seas.

The distance between these two maritime highways is about 400 miles, and the enormous trade that was developed in petroleum at Baku in the late 19th Century, on the Caspian Sea, would have created a traffic for such a waterway that was never dreamt of in the time of that Czar. The Iwanoff Canal was begun by Peter in 1700 for the purpose of uniting the Don by means of Lake Iwan, with the river Shat, which passes through the Upa into the Oka. The canal had been carried from the Don into the valley of the Bobrucki, towards Cape Iwan, and twenty-four sluices had been completed, when the work was suddenly stopped, most probably because the means were insufficient for its completion; but early in the 19th Century the completion of the canal was ordered by the Government. In 1716, Peter commenced the Kamiishinski Canal, designed to unite the Don and the Volga, and thereby to connect the Black and the Caspian Seas.

Like the Iwanoff Canal, this undertaking had been partially finished when it had to be discontinued, apparently for engineering as well as for financial reasons, nor was it until 1796 that its construction was again resumed. Stalin subsequently used Gulag labor to realize the centuries-old dream. Stalin used German POW's, as well as Russian citizens to work on this project, but he never got to see it's completion. The complicated hydraulic engineering of the Volga-Don canal was constructed in 1949-1952 rapidly - for 3 years and 6 months. Stalin died in 1952, and the Volga-Don Canal was opened in 1953. Its completion inspired Soviet composer Sergei Prokofiev's "The Meeting of the Volga and Don" tone poem. The Volga boatmen, struggling to pull heavy barges against raging rapids, are no more. The Volga River drains much of western Russia's industrial region as it travels southward to empty into the Caspian Sea.

The Volga River is Europe's longest river, flowing some 3,700 kilometers (2,300 miles) from its source in the Valday hills of northwest Russia to the Caspian Sea. As it winds its way through Russia, it passes through several large cities, and it is lined with agriculture. Within its basin lives nearly 25 percent of the total population of the USSR, and the river and its tributaries carry about two-thirds of all the riverborne freight in the country. The Volga River has a low gradient, and thus is a relatively-moving river. Most of the river and many of its hundreds of tributaries are navigable, and it is an important transportation route in the area. Over thousands of years, the river has built a tremendous delta that forms the northwestern shoreline of the Caspian Sea. The delta channels provide transportation between the heartland of Russia and the oil-rich Caspian Sea. The level of the Caspian Sea has been fluctuating significantly, and in the last 150 years, water level has fluctuated over 6 meters; during the period 1930 to 1963, water level dropped 2.6 meters.

Since 1978, the Caspian Sea level has risen over 2 meters (a little over 6 feet), submerging wetland habitats, flooding coastlines, agricultural land, and industrial infrastructure. The Don River is the fourth-longest river in Europe. Its basin covers an area of 425,600 km2 (87% in Russia and 13% in Ukraine). The Don's largest tributary is the Donets. Other important tributaries are the Voronezh, Khoper, and Medveditsa. The source of the river is in Russia, southeast of Moscow near Tula. It then flows for a distance of about 1,950 km, through Voronej, crossing Rostov and entering the Gulf of Taganrog in the Sea of Azov. Although most of the River is navigable, the water level is very low in August, and the River is usually closed by ice from November or December to March or April. In this relatively dry area of southern Russia the Volga-Don Canal has limited water storage capacity. Hence, water has to be pumped at great expense from the Don River to provide water to operate the locks.

The Volga-Don waterways are part of Russia's larger, 100,000-kilometer network of inland waterways. In European Russia, this system not only links the Black and Caspian seas with each other, but with the Baltic Sea, the White Sea, and the Arctic Ocean. The volume of cargo moving on Russia's inland waterways has fallen dramatically in recent years, from more than 300 million tons in 1992 to 98.8 million tons in 1996. By the year 2000, the ports and inland waterways that link the Black and the Caspian seas operated at only a fraction of capacity, in stark contrast to heavily congested Novorossiisk, Russia's main Black Sea port. The western anchor of the Volga-Don system is the port of Rostov, located near the mouth of the Don River, and the nearby ports of Azov and Taganrog. Roughly 350 kilometers upstream from Rostov lies the Volga-Don Canal, a 60 kilometer-long waterway which links the Don and Volga rivers.

The canal joins the Volga near Volgograd, itself a major inland port. The eastern anchor is the port of Astrakhan, 400 kilometers downstream from Volgograd, near where the Volga enters the Caspian. Weather and shallow water impose limitations. Winters are harsh as a result of the region's cold, continental climate. The Volga-Don Canal closes to commercial traffic around the first of November and does not reopen until April. While service is available downstream from Volgograd to Astrakhan, the river upstream closes to navigation for the winter, as well. The shallow channel depths neccisitates the use of smaller vessels, typically the 5,000-ton "river/sea" type, when shipping via the Volga-Don ports. The overall dimensions of the canal locks are smaller than of those on the Volga River. The plan dimensions of locks on the lower Don and the Volga-Don canal are 145 m x 17-18 m and, on the Volga, 290 m x 30 m.

There are depth limitations on the lower Don between the town of Kalach and the town of Azov, because of the reduced depth at the sill of Kochetov lock (3.6 meters), and also on the Volga, over the sector Gorodets-Nizhny Novgorod, because of the insufficient depth (3.5 meters) in the lower pond of Gorodets lock. This potentially important and generally overlooked transportation corridor offers important opportunities as a new route for heavy equipment being shipped to the Caspian Sea, for investment in transportation infrastructure, and in sales of cargo-handling equipment and technology. Decaying infrastructure and restricted access to foreign shippers have limited international use of the Volga-Don waterways, but changes in Russian transport regulations and the privatization of the region's port facilities were making them better able to compete for foreign customers and investors. Passage on the internal waters of Russia under a foreign flag is forbidden. Article 5 of the Russian Inland Waterways Act passed by Stalin in 1936 prevents all foreign vessels from using inland waterways. Moscow imposed specific restrictions in 1994 on foreign vessels sailing the Volga-Don Canal.

Transport and communications obstructions and stoppages have severely affected economic development in the South Caucasus. Since 1989, Azerbaijan has obstructed railways and pipelines traversing its territory to Armenia. Russia hinders Azerbaijan's use of the Volga-Don Canal to reach world shipping channels. The cost of the passage of one Azerbaijani vessel to the internal waters of Russia amounts to $20,000-$25,000. However, Russian vessels pay $5,000-$6,000 for the same movement. Meeting in Baku on 28 August 2002 with Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev, Turkish Minister for Navigation Ramazan Mirzaoglu a regime of unrestricted access to the Volga-Don Canal. Mirzaoglu said that if Turkey had unrestricted access to the Volga-Don Canal, it could transport 2 million tons of Kazakh grain annually to international markets, together with cotton, metals, and other products from the Central Asian states. Aliev expressed his support for the Turkish initiative.

The Republic of Tatarstan is situated on the East-European plain, at the juncture of two of Russia's longest rivers, the Volga and the Kama. Kazan, the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, is located 800 kilometers to the east of Moscow. The Republic of Tatarstan has a rich historical and cultural heritage. There are three broad cultural groups in the Republic, the Turkic, Slavic and Finno-Ugric, and two religious traditions, Islam and Orthodox Christianity. Although the Tatarstan Republic is geographically surrounded by the Russian Federation, Tatarstan is situated on important supply routes, such as the Volga River. Tatarstan has gained sea access through an agreement with the Ukrainian region Crimea. Tatarstan's oil can reach the ports by barge traveling down the Volga River to the Volga-Don canal, through the canal into tile Azov Sea, and from there into the Black Sea. This also opens new trading partners to Tatarstan. Tatarstan also has direct access to the Caspian Sea by barge routes on the Volga River.

On 20 September 2003, the former US Coast Guard Cutter Point Brower was officially dedicated in Azerbaijan. The Point Brower - renamed S-201 - was the third patrol boat of its type that the US government had given Azerbaijan. Two smaller US Coast Guard cutters were given to Azerbaijan in 2000. The ship's long journey began in San Francisco, California and continued as the Maritime Brigade crew piloted the vessel across the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, through the Volga Don canal to the Caspian Sea, and finally to Baku. The 27-meter patrol boat Point Brower primary missions were law enforcement and search and rescue. The cutter had been refurbished and retrofitted several times, most recently in preparation for its transfer to Azerbaijan. President Vladimir Putin, in his state-of-the-nation address in April 2007, proposed that "the Government also examine the establishment of an international consortium to build a second section of the Volga-Don canal. This new transport artery would have a significant impact on improving shipping links between the Caspian and the Black Seas.

Not only would this give the Caspian Sea countries a route to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, thus providing them with access to the world's oceans, it would also radically change their geopolitical situation by enabling them to become sea powers. I have already held preliminary talks on this issue with my colleagues from the countries bordering the Caspian." The Ministry of Transport of Russia addressed to the transport ministries of the countries of Near-Caspian basin with the invitation to take part in building and operation of the second branch of the Volga-Don canal. Igor Levitin, RF Transport Minister informed about it during his working trip to Volgograd on 27 July 2007, when the 55th anniversary of the Volga-Don Canal was celebrated. On 10 June 2007 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed an alternative "Eurasia Canal" connecting the Caspian and Black Seas. Nazarbayev proposes building an almost straight canal utilizing Soviet-era navigable reservoirs across Russia's North Caucasus. The alternative Eurasia Canal could potentially carry up to 45 million tons annually.

The canal is intended to be constructed from the Caspian Sea to the influx of the Don River via the Kumo-Manich pit. The canal would be 650km in length, 80m in width, 6.5m in depth and the number of gateways will total six. The canal is envisaged for the passage of the vessels of "river-sea" class with a capacity of 3,500-5,500t with the future use of vessels of a new class with a capacity of up to 10,000t. NEWSLETTER Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/168 - Wikisource, the free online library Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/168 From Wikisource This page needs to be proofread . 82 ON THE CASPIAN TO PERSIA revolutions that have since occurred in the various districts of Persia, have given to such movements of troops as we had just witnessed, a significance that cannot even yet be fully judged.

But soon we were casting off from the dock and steaming out of the harbor of Baku into the broad Caspian, whose waves I have plowed seven times on my different journeys. To one accustomed to crossing the Atlantic twice each year, the voyage on the Caspian Sea, whether boisterously rough or placidly smooth, presents little novel beyond the local color. This huge inland sea, whose tideless waters are slightly less salt than the ocean and are even fresh at the northern end, where the Volga and Ural empty their streams into its volume, has, in the course of time, become a Russian lake, with a thou- sand craft, largely propelled by steam, furrowing its glistening surface. The enterprising Kavkas-Merkur Line alone runs no less than thirty steamers, north and south, east and west, ply- ing between its main ports at Astrakhan, Baku, Anzali, Astra- bad, and Krasnovodsk. The equipment, manning, and handling of these vessels compares favorably with that of other packet- boats of like burden under similar conditions; but the passage money does not include food, which must be paid for extra.

Yet the table is all that one could expect, and not the least attractive feature of the voyage is the Russian zaJcuska^ or pre- liminary morsel, before sitting down to the formal meal at noonday or sunset. A graceful touch is sometimes given to this refreshment, especially on the eastern route to Krasno- vodsk, when the captain, who is often a Finn or a Swede, ceremoniously conducts one or another of his passengers to the table as a special act of courtesy. He talks interestingly of the development of shipping — how tons in the year 1865, the gross tonnage has since risen to a point considerably over a hundred thousand in cubic capacity; and he points with pride to an almost equal bulk of displace- ment in the freightage of sailing vessels. The conversation �� � BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Oil brings new sparkle to Caspian Sea From Our Own Correspondent Oil brings new sparkle to Caspian Sea By Ian MacWilliam BBC correspondent in Kazakhstan The Caspian is the world's largest inland sea, but it is still relatively unknown.

Now however, even the remoter communities around the sea are beginning to feel the effects of new contacts with the outside world, a reviving economy and an emerging oil industry. "At times you would almost think you were in one of the shabbier corners of southern Spain" Seagulls are a rare sight in Central Asia. In much of Kazakhstan you are about as far from the open ocean as it is possible to be. But there I was sitting in a beachfront cafï¿½, with a bottle of cold Tien Shan beer to hand, and a plate of sturgeon cutlets. The sun sparkled on the blue water as gentle waves lapped against the sandy beach. Three ships steamed past on the distant horizon, bound for Astrakhan or Baku or Bandar-e-Anzali, to the south on the coast of Iran. And a pristine white seagull glided past on the breeze, casting a covetous eye towards my sturgeon cutlets. At times in Aktau you would almost think you were somewhere in one of the shabbier corners of southern Spain. The warm sun is softened by sea breezes, and there is always a glimpse of blue sea between the buildings, which are built of local sandstone.

But Aktau lies on the edge of Central Asia, the land of the endless steppe - and it is surely one of the oddest cities in the region. Haunting legacy Aktau was a Soviet creation. It was built in the 1960s to produce uranium and plutonium for the military. It was a secret, closed city until the demise of the USSR. On a bluff overlooking the Caspian Sea an entire city arose, with ranks of numbered apartment blocks grouped along the wide central avenue. Toxic waste and oil leaks have contributed to ecological decline As you approach the city today, it rises up from the empty steppe like a mirage. But despite the best efforts of the sun and the sea, the legacy of the past lies heavily on Aktau. Beyond the city lies a decaying industrial wasteland such as only the Soviets could have produced. Aktau once took pride in its nuclear power station and its four chemical factories, but these shabby relics now haunt the city's outskirts like the ghosts of a failed industrial experiment. The nuclear power station no longer works - but Aktau's water is still produced in a desalination plant on the premises.

The chemical factories are dead - but a lake where they once poured tons of toxic and radioactive waste still shimmers in the sunlight just beyond the city. Reason to be cheerful If Aktau's residents are aware of the environmental dangers lurking on their doorstep, most are pretty blasï¿½ about such things. And these days, after a decade of economic decline, people in Aktau are pretty cheerful. The Caspian's oil supply is helping regeneration of the area The reason is oil. Western Kazakhstan is saturated with the stuff. Kashagan, one of the biggest oilfields discovered in the past 30 years, lies under the blue waters of the Caspian just up the coast. Aktau is to be the centre for development of the offshore oil industry, and it is already becoming a transport and services hub for the region. The crumbling Soviet-era port has been given a radical makeover. Ships crisscross the Caspian from Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia, exporting oil and steel, and importing cars and heavy equipment for the oilfields. People turn up here from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and the Caucasus looking for work. The residents of Aktau today are a miscellany of Kazakhs and Russians and Caucasians.

Sit in a cafï¿½ and you're as likely to hear a conversation in Azeri or Georgian as you are in Russian. Future holiday destination? I went to see the toxic lake with Yusuf - a rough diamond if ever there was one. He was an Ingush whose grandfather was deported by Stalin from the Caucasus mountains to the Kazakh steppe. Yusuf came to Aktau by way of Murmansk in the Russian Arctic, where he did his military service. "Two years in the navy, and six in prison", he said, grinning through blackened teeth. Even here at the ends of the earth, change is on the way "What did you do?" I asked. "Shot the Commandant", he said with a laugh, still savouring the memory. Once out of prison, he came to Aktau to visit a navy friend. He found himself a Kazakh wife, and has stayed ever since. I took a drive up the coast to Fort Shevchenko. Camels and horses roamed the steppe or grazed by the roadside, oblivious to the cars speeding past. Fort Shevchenko is a sleepy town which feels like the end of the earth.

The Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko was exiled here in the nineteenth century for writing a poem against the Tsar. Once it was the starting point for camel caravans setting off to cross the desert to Khiva on the shores of the Aral Sea. You can still visit the shady grove and the little underground cell where he wrote his poems during the summer's heat. And even here at the ends of the earth, change is on the way. The local fishing industry died years ago, but the little port is also being rebuilt for the oil industry. From the rocky hillside where the Russian fort once stood, you can look across the bay where survey ships and other vessels now lie at anchor. And beyond that the sun sparkles on the wide, blue Caspian Sea. One day, I suspect, local tourists will set off from here to cruise across the sea to Dagestan or Iran or Astrakhan. That day is still a long way off - but I am sure it will happen. From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Thursday, 10 June, 2004 at 1100 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

Caspian Sea States On Course For Naval Arms Race Caspian Sea States On Course For Naval Arms Race July 27, 2011 The Caspian Basin is growing in importance as a source of energy resources. Share Earlier this month, representatives of the countries that surround the Caspian Sea met in Moscow to discuss divvying up its ample natural resources. The meeting broke up with all sides praising their desire for peace and cooperation. If it were only so. The reality is less encouraging. In May, the commander in chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky, announced to a meeting in the coastal city of Astrakhan that Russia's Caspian Flotilla will be receiving at least 16 new ships by the end of 2020. The flotilla, which already has 148 vessels, boasts the most powerful frigate in the sea, the frigate "Tatarstan." By the end of this year, he said, two new missile ships and three landing ships will join the flotilla. He also vowed that the government would soon provide Russia's Caspian fleet with new shore-based supersonic antiship missiles.

Russia's plans mark the latest episode in the militarization of the Caspian, which is either -- depending on whom you ask -- the world's biggest lake or the world's biggest inland sea. That definition, it turns out, is anything but academic. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the five countries that abut the Caspian -- Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, and the two Central Asian states of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan -- have been sparring over how to divide it up among them. International law regulates countries' offshore control of maritime resources differently for lakes and seas, so the slice of the Caspian's rich energy resources -- estimated by some experts to be worth $3 trillion -- that goes to each country has much to do with which interpretation wins out. Naval Arms Proliferation Despite all the positive rhetoric, the latest conference in Moscow, officially known as the 29th session of the Caspian Working Group, demonstrated that the five countries are not that much closer to resolving the issue than they were after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. two decades ago. And that is inspiring some of them to seek insurance in the form of a heftier military presence.

After Russia, Iran is the second-largest power in the Caspian, with a force of 90 vessels in the sea. Tehran announced earlier this year that it intended to add another 75 missile ships to its fleet, to be built either in its Caspian shipyard or transported north from the Persian Gulf. In June, the commander of the Iranian Navy, Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, stressed Iran's determination to safeguard its interests in the Caspian: "We have full control over Iran's 20 percent share of the sea." Iran subscribes to the view that the sea should be shared equally between the five states. Oil-rich Kazakhstan, meanwhile, is also trying to boost its maritime defenses on the Caspian. It has built a new air base in the western port city of Aqtau, which is also the headquarters of its nascent navy. Reports indicate that Kazakhstan is looking to buy patrol boats from South Korea and is building up its manpower by sending cadets to study in other countries, such as Turkey. Azerbaijan has used its close relationships with Turkey and the United States to boost its naval forces.

The country inherited a mere eight vessels from the Soviet Union, including a frigate and seven minesweepers, but over the last decade the Azerbaijani Navy has received 30 patrol cutters from Turkey and three motor boats from the United States. In addition, the United States has helped Azerbaijan to install maritime radars along its coast and establish a command-and-control center in Baku. Turkmenistan, which so far has a minimal naval presence in the sea, is also using its good relations with Turkey to beef up its forces. A Turkish shipyard is building two fast patrol boats for the country. In 2010, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov announced the establishment of the country's first naval academy. Energy Bridge To The World Russia, however, is far and away the uncontested leader among the Caspian's budding naval powers. Aleksei Vlasov, editor in chief of "Vestnik Kavkaza" and an expert on Caspian issues, says that, by boosting its naval power in the Caspian, Russia is trying to push other powers to get serious about finally coming to agreement on the sea's legal status.

While Russia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan have reached mutual agreements on their sectors, there are still plenty of unsolved issues about control of the sea and its resources. Russia is strengthening its position, he says, because "it is aware that in the next 10 to 15 years the Caspian Sea is going to become a bridge between the Middle East countries, former Soviet republics, and European states. Moscow is concerned that the dragging on of the discussion about the legal regime of the Caspian Sea can change the balance of power in the region. The main concern of Russia is the increasing presence of Western countries in the region." U.S. military assistance to the Azerbaijanis and Kazakhs is only part of what is worrying the Russians. Western oil and gas companies like Chevron and BP have a strong foothold in the Caspian region. Russia has long held a monopoly over the pipeline networks that the countries of the region use to get their resources to market, but the United States and Europe, experts say, have had some success in building new export routes that lessen that dependence. The stakes are high. Analysts say that between 2 to 6 percent of the world's oil reserves lie beneath the Caspian Basin.

The sea also boasts 6 to 10 percent of the world's gas reserves. Growing Russian-Iranian Rivalry The other factor is rivalry between Russia and Iran -- a point belied by both countries' protestations of their special "strategic relationship." According to Russian military analyst Vladimir Yevseyev, director of the Center for Public and Political Studies in Moscow, "Russia is worried by the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran is also trying to develop its military presence, and that is apparently the most important factor driving Russia toward militarization of the Caspian Sea. Russia is being dragged against its own will into an arms race that can lead at some stage to military conflicts." Stephen Blank, professor of national-security affairs at the U.S. Army War College, says that Moscow wants to "ensure that Russia is the strongest naval power in the Caspian and can impose its will, if necessary, on anybody and provide what it considers to be a roof over the [post-Soviet states]. "So in that sense it is a challenge to Iran. The Iranian government has been very aggressive in refusing to make progress on the Caspian Sea's delimitation.

So this is an attempt by Russia to show that it will not be pushed around in the Caspian." Russia, Blank says, is also doing its best to counter the U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. But he warns that Moscow's determination to maintain its dominance in the region might sometimes have an opposite effect. "The Russian neo-colonial, neo-imperial kind of approach is flatly in contradiction with the interests of both the post-Soviet states and the United States, which is why they want to have good relations with the United States to protect them against these kinds of threats," Blank says. "If Russia thought that it could have cooperation rather than exclusivity, I think we'd have it." To be sure, there are some encouraging signs. On July 21, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev submitted an agreement on Caspian security to the Russian parliament for ratification. Known as the Security Cooperation Agreement, it commits Russia and the other littoral countries to cooperate on maritime security and on efforts to combat transnational threats like terrorism, organized crime, arms smuggling, illegal migration, and the drug trade. It was signed by all five presidents of the Caspian countries last November.

Those same leaders are scheduled to convene another summit in Moscow before the end of this year. If previous meetings are any indication, there will be much talk of the need for regional peace and stability. What remains to be seen is whether the states of the region can manage to match the rhetoric with the reality. RFE/RL Radio Farda's Oksana Beheshti contributed to this report Related

Question: On which inland sea do the ports of Astrakhan and Baku lie?
Answer: Caspian Sea